Summer Shootings in Boston on the Rise

There have been high-profile gang busts, meetings with community leaders and bike rides for peace. And still the violence hasn't stopped. (Published Tuesday, July 18, 2017)

There have been high-profile gang busts, meetings with community leaders and bike rides for peace.

And still the violence hasn't stopped.

Boston's bloody summer continued over the weekend, with a fatal shooting in Roxbury on Saturday night, a drive-by shooting in Dorchester on Sunday night, followed by a fatal double shooting in Dorchester on Monday afternoon, a shooting in Roxbury Monday night, the fatal shooting of a well-known store owner in Mission Hill on Tuesday afternoon and a shooting in Dorchester on Wednesday morning.

From Memorial Day Weekend through Sunday, there have been 59 shootings in Boston, 7 of them fatal. That's up 37 percent from the 43 shootings (7 fatal) during that same period in 2016.

Shooting Category

2016

2017

#Change

%Change

Non-fatal shootings

36

52

16

44

Fatal shootings

7

7

0

0

Total shooting victims

43

59

16

37

The year-to-date numbers aren't much better. From Jan. 1 through Sunday, there had been 137 shootings in Boston, 19 of them fatal. That's up 30 percent from the 106 shootings (15 fatal) for the same period last year.

Shooting Category

2016

2017

#Change

%Change

Non-fatal shootings

91

118

27

30

Fatal shootings

15

19

4

27

Total shooting victims

106

137

31

29

"There's too many guns on the street, but this is definitely a village concept," said Boston Police Superintendent-in-Chief William Gross. "We're talking about clergy, residents... everybody is included."

"This can't continue to happen and neighborhoods like this — it can't be the new normal in these neighborhoods," Jackson said Tuesday. "We want to make sure that every neighborhood in the city of Boston is safe."

Walsh said he's been working on the problem, but there's no easy solution.

"This summer we've seen an uptick here in the neighborhoods," he said. "It's something that bothers us, and we're going to continue to work at it every day.

"There's too many guns on the street," Walsh said, echoing Gross. "We're just going to continue to work at it. This is where we need to double down our efforts... It has to be a whole program solution to how we deal with this."